Letter to the editor: Impeachment and the First Amendment

One reads with interest Jonah Goldberg’s essay “Impeachment trials aren’t about proving criminal behavior” decrying how lawyer pundits discuss impeachment, a political process, in terms of criminal proceedings. But one need not be a President Trump supporter to recognize the danger in asserting that, during impeachment, Congress merely plays a political role, similar to a corporate board of directors disciplining a company executive, and so can act without regard to the implications of the First Amendment.

The Supreme Court has repeatedly held, even in cases pertaining to civil election laws, that the major purpose of the First Amendment is protecting free discussion of government affairs and that the most urgent application of that protection is campaign speech. The House managers’ impeachment presentation cited statements made by Trump both during the 2020 campaign and in the post-election period up through Jan. 6. Given the basis the House chose to rely on in passing the article of impeachment, reasonable people might expect evidence and/or an explanation how the acts complained of are not protected speech.

Stated more simply, when a corporate board of directors disciplines a company executive, such action must still comply with the corporation’s bylaws. So, too, even though impeachment is a political remedy and not a criminal action, it remains government action by both houses of Congress and, like other government actions, it should remain subject to the limits imposed by the First Amendment.

David Thomas

Bradford Woods